Whoa

Actions: Well, I got here safe and sound and tired and excited! There's a group of about 50 in my same program...5 guys! haha. We all got bussed over to the hotel in Madrid which is right downtown.
API (my program) treated us to dinner (i like how they tell us that when.....WE are paying HOW MUCH for this program lol). Anyways, dinner was yummy and i met some nice girls. Most people are rooming with who they're rooming with in Seville, but the girl I'm in the hotel with also is rooming with someone who is already here, like me, so that worked out. This morning we went to the Palacio Royal which was AMAZING! We  couldn't take pictures on the inside, but that was the best part. There was a room for everything: one room for drinking tea, one room for smoking, billiards, a dining room, a room with the thrones, a room for musical performances, various rooms to just pass through, rooms with displays of silver, a room with musical instruments, etc. I'm determined to decorate one room of my future house in the "Rococó" style (my favorite room of the house was like that). Walked around a bit more through the Plaza mayor and in many little shops. Oh and our resident director knocked on the door of a convent!!! Definite highlight of the day, we got to go in their courtyard (not all the way in). The nuns gave us cookies that they made :)

Thoughts: So it looked just like the US for a solid 20 minutes at and out of the airport...kind of a buzzkill! However my buzzkill was quickly erased as we drove into Madrid. "Europe" jumped out at me just how I always thought it would. You just don't get castles,  statues, adorable balconies and random historical beautiful architecture in the US. Although I have heard that Madrid is very urbanized...which is indeed obvious. I'm glad I picked Seville (without even having been there) just because i know it will feel like a more "pure" spanish culture. At least in my head it is. I like it. And I'm ready to explore more. The people dress very nice (which I also knew going in), but its nice to see that people want to dress up, que linda. But ya, im in love so far. Mostly with the decorated balconies and tall narrow streets and brick pedestrian walkways and the market of course. 

if i could write a letter to me

Dear self, 

Why don't you get it down on paper (or on blog) what you're actually trying to accomplish while abroad?? So here we go, GOALLLLLLLLLS:

personal:

-be myself when meeting people ---------->>>>>>>
-become fluent in spanish
-do well at school, but don't stress out (my grades won't transfer into my cumulative gpa at UW-L)
-make good legit friends. both spanish and american
-work out regularly
-get my host mom to love me :) haha
-take interesting pictures
-talk/skype with my family once(ish) a week
-be there (ie- immerse myself in the culture. don't be thinking about home excessively)

travel/what to see and do:
-learn to flamenco dance
-make it to 3 other countries (maybe Portugal and France)
-take surfing lessons
-explore rather than sit around. go for long walks
-stay in a hostel
-see a "futbol" game

Now go get em!

Love,
Me

ready or not, here I come!

"So many people live within unhappy circumstances and yet will not take the initiative to change their situation because they are conditioned to a life of security, conformity, and conservatism, all of which may appear to give one peace of mind, but in reality nothing is more dangerous to the adventurous spirit within a man than a secure future. The very basic core of a man's living spirit is his passion for adventure. The joy of life comes from our encounters with new experiences, and hence there is no greater joy than to have an endlessly changing horizon, for each day to have a new and different sun. If you want to get more out of life, you must lose your inclination for monotonous security and adopt a helter-skelter style of life that will first appear to you as crazy. But once you become accustomed to such a life you will see its full meaning and its incredible beauty."
— Chris McCandless, Into the Wild

This quote is one of the things that propelled my interest in traveling. I guess you could say it all started in high school. A few classes (that I wasn't expecting to like) caught my attention and "stamped" me with curiosity. In geography, we watched the movie "Hotel Rwanda". In english, we read Into the Wild. And in sociology, we learned about evolution and also watched documentaries on different tribes that are still active today in remote areas. When I got to college, we were lucky enough to have Lisa Ling speak on campus. Since then I have thought a lot about eeevvveeerrryyyytttthhhiiiinnnggg out there that "we," as privileged americans are blind to. I am hardly a spec on this globe full of 6,893,295,289 some odd people. I speak ONE language (fluently). I have ONE family. I live in ONE city (okay, one and a half. college). I have eaten the same food my whole life. I listen to a few select types of music. And I have my own style. 

On the flip side....why not? Why NOT try a different style? Why NOT try a different cuisine, better yet adopt that cuisine? Why shouldn't I force myself to speak a different language for a few months, if not longer? Why NOT be taken care of by a foreign family? 

Long story short, In the few places that I have already seen (Ontario Canada, Cancún Mexico and Costa Rica) I am extremeeeeely intrigued by this world. And I want MORE. Who wouldn't? 

So SPAIN...ready or not, here I come!